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POLITICO 44

With a couple of quiet changes to long-standing rules, the military is on track to make 2010 a year in which its reproductive health policies are significantly liberalized.

In February, the military began requiring all of its hospitals to stock emergency contraceptives. And now, a Senate amendment to the defense authorization bill would authorize military hospitals to perform elective abortions.

“I do think it’s a sign of the times,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “It’s the recognition that reproductive health care for women is basic health care. The world has changed, and women play a larger role in the military. These are all very positive steps.”

These shifts in military policy are particularly notable in light of the numerous anti-abortion provisions flying through state legislatures. Catalyzed by the health reform debate, anti-abortion advocates have just passed some of the most restrictive abortion laws in recent memory.

Nebraska will soon ban abortions after 20 weeks, as a result of a law passed in April. The next month, Oklahoma began requiring women to view an ultrasound prior to the procedure and hear a detailed description of the fetus. (The law is on hold until a local court rules on its constitutionality.)

The federal government usually has little influence on reproductive health policy, particularly abortion regulation. Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case legalizing abortion, specifically leaves the regulation of abortion to the states. Sometimes, the court may intervene — deeming a particular provision or restriction as a violation of Roe — but the matter is, by and large, in the states’ hands.

So it’s rare to see much movement on abortion policy at the federal level. Anti-abortion advocates frame the shift toward more liberal reproductive rights within the military as driven by a Democratic Congress and a pro-abortion-rights administration.

“They’re using the military as a wedge and a way to implement their agenda,” Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, said of her opponents. “I see them being very craven in looking to use the military to put the stamp of approval of federal government on abortion.”

The military has no official stance on divisive issues like birth control or abortion. Decisions on reproductive health policy — or any health policy — fall to federal entities, generally Pentagon advisory panels and, as in the case of regulating abortion, to Congress.

The changes this year, one passed and one pending, began with these two bodies.

In November, the Pentagon’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee voted to include Plan B, a two-pill emergency contraceptive, and the generic Next Choice on the basic core formulary, a list of drugs all military facilities must stock. The Pentagon accepted the recommendation in February.

The military frames the decision as purely pragmatic, meant to standardize the stock available at hospitals across the globe. The Pentagon had made Plan B available to military women in 1999, when the Food and Drug Administration approved it as a prescription drug, but had not required that all hospitals stock the product.

“This move is ... consistent with the military health system goal to ensure that our beneficiaries have access to the appropriate medications for their health care needs, irrespective of location,” said Cynthia Smith, a Department of Defense spokeswoman.

It's issues like these that made it difficult and now even more so to bring women into the military.

I recently left the service after spending nine years in the United States Navy. During that time, nearly half of the women that went to my department (which was a fairly significant number, during my service I spent 7 years on the same aircraft carrier) had gotten pregnant and were removed from the ship. Many saw this as an escape to avoid going on deployment and also to receive a hardship discharge (separation due to having a difficult personal situation that would not be conducive to military schedules). Several of them openly admittedly they had gotten pregnant just for that reason, though to this day I can't understand why they would saddle themselves with a lifelong responsibility just to avoid going on an overseas deployment.

Abortion is exactly this: The option to ignore the reproductive consequences that are inherent to sexual activity so that you can live a life free of the responsibilities of rearing a child. Secular philosophy had morphed sexual intercourse into something that should be done prior to any sort of commitment between a man and a woman. It is now just a game, that most adults are fully aware their children will participate in at an early age, and can't find it within themselves to intervene.

If the Darwinites out there believe that evolution is based on the transmutation of the human genome through a series of birth cycles over time to adapt to an ever changing world, why would you believe that human beings should selectively allow themselves to get rid of their unborn?

Reproductive health? Why don't you call it what it is, the Obama administration is going to use our tax money to fund abortions for military personnel. That's not a little change, that's huge, but I wouldn't expect Politico or any of the other MSM to report it honestly.

If the Darwinites out there believe that evolution is based on the transmutation of the human genome through a series of birth cycles over time to adapt to an ever changing world, why would you believe that human beings should selectively allow themselves to get rid of their unborn?

This doesn't make a lick of sense. The fact of evolution doesn't mean we shouldn't exercis3e any influence over our own reproduction any more than it means we should stop selectively breeding cattle.

Louis L: Jun. 17, 2010 - 8:38 AM EST

Planned Parenthood... Why does the Left never pay for such Sacred Causes out of their own pocket ?

Hmm ... How much did Planned Parenthood receive in charitable donations, again?

Don't kid yourself. Obama is all about pleasing the Liberal-Left-wing ideological radical groups: Planned Parenthood and NARAL, atheists, the HRC homosexual lobby who demanded he end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and stop supporting traditional marriage. And now Obama proposes that taxpayers' fund contraception and abortion in military facilities, and let's not forget Kevin Jennings and Chai Feldblum either--two radical appointees if there ever were. Or gay "marriage" in the Nation's Capital without any oversight whatsoever by fellow-Liberals Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. These are the same very unpopular individuals who gave us ObamaCare, another disaster, and who want us to pay more for our energy, while failing miserably on Obama's clean-up of the Gulf oil spill, blaming BP for his lack of strategy. Sorry, this president is totally misguided, and Americans are fed up with the rhetoric promised during the campaign. He's all about pleasing the unions and liberal-Left of the Democratiic spectrum. Never again. Obama is wrecking America. Out of control spending and deficts and ever-increasing taxes; states can't balance their bugets, and all we hear from this Administration are more "gay rights", more "gay rights". I'm sick of this. Aren't there more important things to do than this? Someone has misguided priorities.

A sign of the times...a good thing...a positive shift for our US gov. This says alot about the character of our US gov. The sad truth. Does anyone care about life anymore? Peace? Does our government reflect our present day society in lacking all values? They are leading us to ruin..portraying us as an ugly group of people with a callous regard for all things good and right.

Right wingers not getting their way once again. Boo Hoo! If Conservative types cared about life they wouldn't promote senseless war. Blackwater contractors firing into a crowd of unarmed civilians graphically represents the current "Pro-life" crowd.

Right wingers not getting their way once again. Boo Hoo! If Conservative types cared about life they wouldn't promote senseless war. Blackwater contractors firing into a crowd of unarmed civilians graphically represents the current "Pro-life" crowd.

wow...this is like a straw man and red herring all rolled into one. Probably one of the most asinine statements i've read on this site in a long time. You probably need to enroll in a basic logic course at the local community college.

JLA, Planned Parenthood gets 1/3 of their Funding from the Taxpayer, who are overwhelmingly opposed to funding abortion. ..ObamaCare, if it survives, sneaks in millions more.

But the point is...if Abortion on Demand is the Left's Sacred of Sacreds, why dont they pay for it ? Why do they insist on cooercing the funding out of the rest of us, & in debt service from our kids & grandkids ?

As a 30 year veteran of the U.S. Navy Medical department I'm glad to see that our Service Women will have the same health options as most of their civilian counterparts.

As another commentator mentioned, I've seen abuses of the pregnancy policies as well, women getting pregnant to be allowed to move from the barracks to a subsidised home and so on, this has nothing to do with the current abortion policy.

None of the services would be able to function without women serving. That's the nature of the all volunteer force so why not give them modern and up to date health care including reproductive care?

prolifers never fight to shutdown fertility clinics which dispose of fertilized embryos regularly

I have a met a very small number of people who are ethically pro-life in all aspects of their life - the majority are just eager to cram their self righteous indignation down the throats of women who have the misfortune to get pregnant when they don't want to be.

Its the height of idiocy to 'enforce' a child on someone who has decided they can't afford one financially, physically or emotionally.

If people truly want to help lower the already dropping abortion rate, support contaception being freely available instead of letting republicans force this moral value on us too. Why is Viagra covered but birth control pills are not by most insurance? Ridiculous.

I recently left the service after spending nine years in the United States Navy. During that time, nearly half of the women that went to my department (which was a fairly significant number, during my service I spent 7 years on the same aircraft carrier) had gotten pregnant and were removed from the ship. Many saw this as an escape to avoid going on deployment and also to receive a hardship discharge (separation due to having a difficult personal situation that would not be conducive to military schedules). Several of them openly admittedly they had gotten pregnant just for that reason, though to this day I can't understand why they would saddle themselves with a lifelong responsibility just to avoid going on an overseas deployment.